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Project description

Potential health impacts of ionising radiation in paediatric patients

The use of radiation for medical diagnosis and treatment has a major impact on the survival of paediatric patients. Although the benefits of these techniques largely outweigh the risks, a better understanding of their long-term health effects is needed to optimise treatment plans and reduce the risk of late toxicities. The EU-funded HARMONIC project is building European cohorts for the long-term follow-up of children undergoing modern radiotherapy and interventional cardiology. HARMONIC aims at assessing the association of early radiation exposure with endocrine dysfunction, cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases, and cancer development. HARMONIC will also assess the impact of radiotherapy on quality of life and social outcomes of paediatric patients, and help optimise protocols and clinical guidelines.

Objective

The increasing use of radiation-associated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures have contributed to the improvements of early diagnosis and survival of paediatric patients. While benefits to the patient outweigh the radiation associated risk, the late effects of exposure of children are particularly important to understand in populations with increased survival.
The HARMONIC project builds on close collaboration between scientific and medical communities to contribute to improvements in the understanding of the health effects of medical ionising radiation exposure of paediatric patients, focusing on two distinct and complementary populations: (1) Paediatric patients undergoing modern radiotherapy (including proton therapy); (2) Paediatric patients undergoing interventional cardiology. Our project will provide additional insight into exposure to ionising radiation in childhood, exploring potential effects at very early ages, exposure to a wide range of doses from photons, protons and secondary neutrons radiation.
We aim at building European cohorts and registries for long term follow-up of paediatric patients treated with ionising radiation, both in cardiology and oncology settings, in the context of very rapid technology evolution. The study will use an integrated approach of conventional epidemiology, based on state-of-the art dosimetry, complemented by non-invasive imaging and molecular epidemiology to assess the following outcomes: endocrine dysfunctions, cardio and neurovascular diseases, societal impact and cancer. Complementary to this effort, we propose to investigate radiation-induced cellular responses in samples of blood and saliva, and the mechanisms involved in the processes that may lead to cancer and vascular diseases.
Ultimately, HARMONIC will develop tools and allow definition of guidelines on optimization techniques to guide treatments toward reduction of patient doses in paediatric cardiology and oncology.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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RIA - Research and Innovation action

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) NFRP-2018

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Coordinator

FUNDACION PRIVADA INSTITUTO DE SALUD GLOBAL BARCELONA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 762 762,50
Address
C ROSSELLO 132 PLANTA 05
08036 Barcelona
Spain

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Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 762 762,50

Participants (24)

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